Thursday, November 20, 2014

That's a Wrap

After a wonderful weekend visiting Ethan, Heather & Erik and the Luna's - I flew down to LA for a week of production. Monday we pre-pro'd and went through tons of wardrobe, then shot Tuesday - Saturday. We had 2 concerted TV spots, and 3 vignette spots that we were double shooting for Hispanic as well. FULL WEEK!

One spot was set in a moving car, so we rented a process trailer to shoot the car moving, without the actors having to drive. The people mover with audio and screens for us to review/ approve what was being shot had poor audio quality and timing was tight. In order to be most effective and efficient - I got to ride on the process trailer. It's pretty awesome and not at all glamourous. It's a truck with a space to sit on the back, cameras, crew and a stationary car.

my view : crammed up against some uncomfortable metal poles. While shooting, the screens were a feed from the 2 cameras.

Here you can see the car on the trailer in back.

One day of the shoot, we had to build a DD store. Up until recently - there were no DD's in CA so we had to build a replica every time we shot. Even though there are some in the area now, it's easier at this point to build a store temporarily based on where we shoot other scenes / spots. Our crew did an awesome job at the store build!

Unfortunately, that night one of the creatives accidentally locked the keys to one of the rental cars in the trunk. The team tried to get back in, but had to wait for AAA to come.

Such a perfect summary of the scene. Guess who the guilty party is ?

Day 4 of the shoot was in downtown Culver City. If I ever lived in LA - Culver City may be the way to go. It's the heart of production with studios close by. We shot right near Culver City Studios, and their offices are the house that was used for the exterior shots of the house in Gone With The Wind.

Other cool things in Culver City: the town electronic boxes are painted to tie into the landscape.

After the shoot day was over, we headed to the Culver Hotel for a few drinks.

Creatives, Producer & Client

The Culver Hotel's claim to fame is that most of the cast of the Wizard Of Oz stayed at the hotel during filming. They have the movie on a loop in the restaurant / bar projected on the wall, and a few menu items with names inspired by the film.